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Cleo does everything full energy, full commitment and full body. Which makes watching her play with toys a complete joy.

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Jovi on alert. He was keeping an eye on my 3 girls - his harem.

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Breeze whooping it up at playdate. I wish I could say this greeting was for me but, alas, no. Charlie had just arrived. She has a bit of a thing for him. I tried to explain 'coy' and 'decorum' but she was having none of it.

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Drusilla in all her glorious goofiness.

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A rare roll reversal: Breeze chasing Dru - who had her afterburners on.

ETA: To quote houndstooth who said it far better than I - "What do you mean this collar makes my butt look big? You'd better run!"

SATURDAY BLOG HOP

Havin' some fun with the Saturday blog hop again.

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Dru and Breeze. They have such a wonderful time at playdates.

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We just found out yesterday that Cathy (of the broken toe and purple cast) has osteosarcoma in her front shoulder. She had been limping recently and it was believed it had to do with the aftereffects of the broken toe; unfortunately it was not. Any helpful suggestions from people who have gone through cancer with their own dogs; in particular, greyhounds?

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"Dude! What is that thing on your face?"
"There was a plan, a poodle, some snackies and an internet...You know, I really don't want to talk about it."
"I suggest you be a little nicer. Look who's talking about a thing on the face anyway. What is that big honkin' nose you got going on over there?"
"Dru, thanks for the back-up but that's really not necessary, play nice."
"I'm just sayin', he looks funny is all."
"And you don't, skinny?"
"OK that's enough both of you. Let's get down to business. As I said on the phone, I have a stash of snackies to fence, you have the money?"

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Drusilla on the corner. She loves to run circles around me. Literally.

SOME GREAT BLOGS

I have been fortunate enough to be introduced to some fantastic blogs lately - mostly because they found me. Little did I know there were so many blogs revolving around my favorite topic (that would be greyhounds). May I recommend checking them out? Just a few and in no particular order…

Tales and Tails
The best profile photo on the web and I look forward to seeing what comment will show up in my comment box every day.

Two Greyhound Town
I have a feeling my greys are thinking pretty much the same thing. They just don’t express it nearly as eloquently.

Greyt Days
I can’t imagine my girls living in NYC. They would be way to stressed (Breeze looking at you) and in a continual state of people excitement (Willow). Maybe Bella could teach them some serious relaxation techniques.

Never Say Never Greyhounds
Wow. Just, wow.

Driven to Love
I love the expressive photos of Drive and wish I could capture my girls nearly as well.

Whippet Tales
The. Best. Photos. Period. I would love to take pictures like that. Whoa and Damn.

Sarah Regan Snavely
To be that talented….

House of Carnivores
4 cats and a greyhound make for a full house. I keep comparing it with mine and thinking I have room for at least one more… Thanks guys.

Why Greyhounds
I love knowing there is hope for my girls when it comes to their training. (and I love the masthead photo)

Aragon Greyhounds
The work involved with training their greys - I can't even imagine. It took forever just for Dru to learn "down".

Seize the Leash
They have such fantastic photos on their site ;-) (and great dog training tips as well).

Enjoy.

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Dayna took some time out from playdate today to relax in the shade.

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Dru and Breeze playing at play date. Breeze appears to be wondering just how exactly Dru perfected her levitating trick so well.

SATURDAY BLOG HOP

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"An easy job", you said. "No one will know." you said. Well somehow someone knew! And did you get caught? Oh no. Are you the one in muzzle prison so the snackies are protected? Nope. And why? "Because Hope could never do anything like that. Willow is such a bad influence." Jeez, one prior for stealing Dru's squeaky and I'm always the one getting the blame.

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Charlie joining the girls in a run.

A SURPRISING SETBACK

So the weirdest thing happened today. Breeze came prancing into the office like she does when she is really happy, but rather than coming right to me she circled through the room and went back out. She came back a couple seconds later and circled the room again paying particularly close attention to the corners. I realized something was a little off about 5 seconds too late, and that is when she hovered over the pile of blankets I have down as a bed for them and squatted. She obviously hadn’t been out since this morning because it took her a while to finish peeing.

I grabbed her when she started to take her outside, but there was no way she was going to stop mid-stream. I realized I was better off cleaning up a contained puddle on a pile of blankets than a trail across the floor, so let her finish. I wrapped up the blankets gave her a couple “no, bad dog”s and forced her to go outside. She stood at the door and just trembled trying to get around me to go back inside. Of course, I then realized I was just making her afraid of being outside and let her into the house. I put the blankets in the laundry and walked into the living room, she then exhibited her ‘I am afraid of this person’ behavior. Terrific, now she is afraid of me.

So I gave her some space before headed into the living room for some touch time. I sat on the floor next to her bed and massaged her ears, legs, neck and back. I know, I know, “don’t comfort your dog when they are afraid, you are reinforcing their bad behavior”. That may be true for 99% of the dogs. She is not one of them. (My friend Jamie, the dog trainer, says it is because of the way I do it. I am not coddling her, just giving her stability and strength. Thanks for the tips Jamie.) So we worked on me not being a threat for about half hour, a few minutes at a time separated by recouping time.

While working on gaining her trust again, I was puzzling through why she peed in the house; it is quite unusual. (Though she did pee on my bed once. I wasn’t home and my sister stopped by with her daughter, Alex, and Alex’s friend. Alex and the friend needed to use the bathroom and Breeze freaked out when they started walking through the house. She ran into the bedroom and jumped on the bed, cowering in the corner, the furthest spot in the room from the doorway. While Alex was in the bathroom, her friend waited in the hall, which was unfortunately right at the entrance to my bedroom. She was apparently making eye contact as well. So Breeze, recovering from an earlier trip to the vet that morning (a whole ‘nother story), trapped in a room with no escape and with someone staring her down, just peed on the bed. I couldn’t really fault her for that.)

Anyway back to today’s little event. I checked the dog door for any obstructions. Nope. Anything unusual in the back yard. Nope. Men working on a roof of one of the neighboring houses. Nope. Hmmmmm. Puzzling.

My working theory was that earlier in the day something outside had scared her so badly she would now not go out the door. Once we were on good terms again, it was time to test the theory. I opened the back door and started playing with all the girls. I led them on a merry game of chase around the house, through the kitchen, through the Arizona room and into the back yard. I got out there and realized there were suddenly only two dogs playing. Hmmmmm. Breeze was peering at me from inside the kitchen. I recognized the posture, something was freaking her out either in the Arizona room or outside and she was having none of it. We tried the game again with the same results.

OK, time for a different tactic. I got out the smelliest, tastiest snackies I have on hand and went for the enticing ploy. I started at the exterior door. No go. I came into the Arizona room and we met halfway on a straining reach. She didn’t take a step but she took the snackie. 10 minutes later, she was halfway into the room. Willow and Dru supervising the progress probably gained a pound on the snackies during that time frame alone.

It was now time to regroup for both of us. She hid in the corner bed, I called and cancelled the appointments I had this evening. There was no way I was leaving her in the house in this condition and if she wouldn’t go outside on her own. (Why don’t you just take her for a walk you ask – because if she is really freaked out she won’t go during a walk). With a few more sessions she was to the exterior door, but that was a far as she would go. She kept looking around like she was hearing something and trying to pinpoint the source. Neither of us could figure out what it was.

I realized I was going to need reinforcements. A soft voice with a lovely English accent answered the call.

“How are you today?”
“Excellent, thank you.”
“May I borrow your dog?”
“Of course, when would you like him?”
“Sooner, rather than later.”
“I am heading to a meeting in 45 minutes and will drop him off on the way.”

How incredible was that?

You see Breeze has crushes on 2 dogs, Charlie and Jovi, and follows them everywhere when we are at play dates. We were currently talking to Charlie’s Mom, Phyllis, she’s the closer of the two and we haven’t seen Charlie in a while. Plan C was set into motion.

I then started planning ahead for tomorrow, when I return to work (I was lucky I was off today). Pee pads. I need to run to the store before Phyllis arrived. When I returned from PetSmart, $30 dollars lighter and carting a tub of new snackies and a soft-sided bag of ‘it is OK if you pee in the house' blankets, and walked through the living room, my gaze settled in on the small portable fan I had brought in from storage this morning and set up in the corner. We have been hitting over 100 regularly and the heat really seems to be affecting them more this summer than previous ones. Last year the portable fan lived in that corner for 4 months.

Then it dawned on me. The way the fan was set up might be transmitting noise through the kitchen so she would hear it as she entered the Arizona room. I turned it off and decided to try testing the new theory. I got her outside with only moderate tempting with the new dried liver snackies and after a pause at the door to listen for her scary noise. Well crap, all this over a portable fan. She still needed to be coaxed though, so I was looking forward to Phyllis and Charlie's arrival.

We went inside to regroup and the girls heard Phyllis pull into the drive. After the pandemonium at the door, Charlie went straight through to the backyard. I figured Breeze would follow him right out. Wrong. She (and Dru and Willow) were too excited to see Phyllis. After that stretch of excitement calmed down, we all paraded to the back door. Breeze took one look at Charlie and went running outside. No hesitation, no tentative steps, just leaped out, clearing the patio in two strides and following him around the yard within 10 seconds. I was so grateful, I almost kissed Phyllis.

So Charlie has been here about 3 hours now and we have done many snackie treat forays into the back yard. So many in fact, Willow has almost learned ‘leave it’, Dru has perfected her ‘bow’, Breeze is going to be sick tomorrow with all that she has eaten today and Charlie is in 7th heaven after all the new snackies.

All in all a happy ending for the day. I think she will be fine and we are over this rough patch, on our last trip outside she roamed the yard by herself for a few minutes until she found the perfect pee spot. Sweet.

Charlie, hero for the day, needed to rest after all the snackies.

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Breeze having fun on the fly-by.

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This photo is currently gracing my desktop. Makes me laugh every time I turn on the computer. Dru might be dressed in her t-shirt armor and nursing a wound, but it didn't really stop her from scampering around the field at play date and coming to tell me all about it.

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I love it when they do the play bow thing. Looks like Charlie has it down pretty well.

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It's mine. Mine, mine, mine. Allllll mine. Nah nah nah, can't catch me.

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The results of Wednesday's run in. This shirt has been worn many times to cover and protect a cut. They tend to pout a bit when they see it coming. Not their shade of purple I guess.

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She looks so cute and innocent here doesn't she? Photos can be deceiving. She's not feeling well and when that happens she tends to get a smidge bitchy. Between that, and not having been to the dog park in a week, she was displaying inappropriate behavior like it was a Picasso, prominently and proudly. She took a bite out of Dru yesterday during a run. Dru was on a crazy dog lap and Willow just intercepted with a snap that left a nickel-sized hole in Dru's side. My fault for not recognizing her state sooner and putting a muzzle on her. Now they are both grounded until they heal up.

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Renee was not expecting the barrage of dog flesh that went flying by. She was minding her own business, playing with her squeaky toy, before she was so rudely interrupted.

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As you have noticed, I have been incommunicado for the past few days. That would be due to a fantastic vacation in Flagstaff, AZ. Woo Hoo! But I'm glad to be home and back with the girls. This is pretty close to what I was greeted with last night when I went to pick them up. Though Willow revolted a bit when she learned she had to leave the W resort and spa and return the the drudgery of home.

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"I already told you, because I heard "blog" and "photo" then they moved the snackies into the higher cabinets. Now keep practicing, you've almost got it."

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Renee used to ignore me, but I recently learned the secret to her heart is through snackies. Now she spends a portion of her time at play date like this. That's the look of hope.